THE JUNK FOOD AND WEIGHTLIFTING TREND.

you are the snake encircled by temptation. driven by hunger. you have 11 choices. will you succumb to the weakness of outsiders or will you follow progression true and straight?

Ok. I have been meaning to address this trend and I've seen it gaining traction on the ol' Instagram (so we know its serious) but I can ignore it no longer. It's this "candy and lifting trend". The fuck is this lame shit? bacon and bench press? donuts and deadlifts? pizza and powerlifting? sorry but I am not buying. go home.


this is a cop out. This is a meet me halfway approach to weightlifting. eating cake everyday and going to the gym 3 times a week to only do one lift is training wheels shit. that is the stuff busters who first start working out and think that only in the gym is where the muscles are made. this is bush league farm team shit. I AM NOT IMPRESSED. if that is what you think it takes to advance your physique and strength in the gym and then stay away from me because it does not. Don't cry about your gut, your lack of progress, how you cant seem to get stronger, or how you wont ever be able to look like the dudes you wanna look like if you subscribe to this lifestyle.

my buddy Eugene (IG: @thatsalotofblood) and I were ranting about this at the gym last week and we came up with our own tag line. how about this one.... "Sobriety and Booze". How does that one sound? "I love staying sober but I am dedicated to drinking hard and heavy." now all we gotta do is screen print it onto some cheap ass yoga pants and overcharge suckers. the Booze & Sobriety tag line is on the same level as donuts and deadlifts IMO. two things that absolutely contradict each other. it makes my mind hurt but also my heart. I cant comprehend a trend that is supporting one thing that so negatively affects another. unless your donuts are homemade, protein packed, whole wheat, low sugar, versions of donuts then you are wrong.

try to not throw up from how offensive this "workout" shirt is.

look, I'm no fun sponge. I like donuts. I like cake. I like pizza and I eat all of them, I dream about them, and appreciate their beauty and tastiness but I eat one or two on irregular occasions. Its not 50% of my lifestyle and its never a whole pie or a half dozen every other day. I am a firm believer in moderation because after all everything kills you. We all have our vices and we are free to choose our paths and what we carry during our journey. You can get an opinion from any professional on every possible activity or eating habit and they will wind up telling you something along the line of "its not good for you". 

Indulge in all the fun stuff you earned when you have made room for it in other parts of your lifestyle and weightlifting routine. Having pizza that night? Well hit the gym harder the next day, punish yourself. get sadistic! Then adjust what you eat the following day to make room for it. It basically the same concept behind the whole counting" if it fits your macros"  just without the hard data and food log.

Why do things that gain support always have to be rooted in some bold statement defying the proven sciences of human performance and improvement? I guess I just get disappointed because I rarely meet or see people who are just absolutely committed to the hard road. I mean balls out, glass eating, borderline psychotic into everything and anything it takes to get to the next level. The level they feel they belong and deserve. The level they want to be at. So again I come back to mediocrity and how unbelievably boring it is. oh wow, cool that you are into something that is easy and requires enough effort that anyone can do it, and has an escape clause when things get too hard practically stapled to it when its issued to you.

Let me tell you what is more impressive. What shows more commitment than some half assed mediocre "blended lifestyle"? Motherfuckers on My 600lbs Life. You wanna talk commitment? Bro its right there. These people are doing whatever it takes with complete disregard for everything that stands in their way of eating, gaining weight, and getting bigger. they are so committed to gluttony they literally have a team of people who fucking feed and bathe them when they can no longer move for free. Its so weirdly gross but at the same time its respectable. At least they are no pretending to loose weight or pretending to be concerned with their appearance or health. They are all in. Granted its the other side of the spectrum we want but still... What we want is to take the mental commitment of the 600lb woman a flip it. combine it with the motivation of a cold-hearted gainer.

COMMITMENT.

I watched this video from Vice Japan on YouTube about Tomoko Kanada not too long ago. Shes an impressive Japanese female bodybuilder who almost 50. Shes in absolutely stunning shape and she only started lifting weights in her mid 20's. The video follows her around for a day and she tells her story of how she got into bodybuilding, what her life is like, why she lifts and so on. There is a part where she is in her kitchen cooking her meals for the day and she just drops some truth on busters about eating and lifting.

"of diet, training, and rest. I think the most important is diet. many people watching this probably workout but most people don't end up looking like bodybuilders. I think that is because of diet. Diet is 80% of it."

There is the video. I recommend watching it because its motivating as fuck. Make sure to turn on the subtitles.  I realize that my videos do not post if you are reading this on a phone. I am trying to fix it but I'm not very good at computer shit so until I master it ill post the physical link as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuOEP2EKqjU

Side Note: Apologize for the radio silence for the last few weeks. full time school had me by the balls and it was finals week last week so prep time for that was incredibly time consuming. I am now relieved of all school duties until the summer semester starts June 3rd. I have a lot of material already written up so im gonna hit you goons with multiple articles this week. keep checking back.

hit me up if you have any things you would like me to talk about or address. if you have any questions or comments please shoot me an email blackmetalfitness@gmail.com or find me on Instagram @thereisnogod.

"EAT TO THE POWER OF SATAN'S MIGHT."

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6 Reasons You Aren't Meeting Your Weight-loss Goals

If I had a dime for every time someone asked me how they could lose X number of pounds in X number of time, I could probably make enough money to earn myself a spot in the Shark Tank cast. Everyone seems to have extra weight they want to lose, but yet very few of those people actually want to do something about it. Interesting.

Why aren't you meeting your weight loss goals? Here are couple possibilities as to why:

1. You're not tracking your intake. There are a million and-a-half different diets and cleanses on the market. The one thing that virtually all have in common is that maintaining a caloric deficit is paramount. To lose weight, you must be consuming less than you are expending. That's it. It's pretty simple! People say you shouldn't eat carbs, you shouldn't eat fat, you should eat carbs after dark, you should carb cycle, you should eliminate sugar/gluten/dairy/etc., you should drink lemonade everyday for a week, blah blah blah. I could continue. None of that is necessary. Just measure how much you're eating and make sure you're moving a lot. You wouldn't load an arbitrary weight on the bar and try to squat it, right? So why would you neglect to keep track of how much food you're consuming? Weigh your food portions, track everything in a food tracker (I use My Fitness Pal), and find out what a good amount of food is for you to start losing weight.
2. You're inconsistent. You eat "clean" or you track your intake Monday through Friday, and then you go hard and go out drinking and eat whole pies of pizza (guilty as charged) on the weekends. I admire your 5 days of dedication, but you're absolutely destroying all of your hard work over the course of those two days. If you feel inclined to have a day where you don't want to track your calories and just have fun, try to make sure it's not twice-a-week, every week. Make those days fewer and farther between so that you're not sabotaging your progress on the weekends.
3. You're stressed and/or sleep deprived. Adequate sleep and relaxation are underrated as methods of improving bodily composition. If your body is operating in the sympathetic, "fight or flight" nervous system, as it would in someone who is sleep-deprived and/or overworked, you are constantly in survival mode. Your body is going to instinctually hold on to excess fat (or possibly store more food as fat out of fear) if you are in a constant state of stress! 
4. You aren't moving enough outside of the gym. Your NEAT is your Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or the calories you're expending during your other hours of the day. If you work out for 1-2 hours a day and spend the rest of the day sitting at work, your NEAT is going to be pretty low. If you have a physically demanding job or you go on walks/runs during the day, your NEAT is significantly higher. What you do during the rest of your day is important! Now, I understand that not everyone has the option to go on a 3 hour hike during the day, and people do work desk jobs, but try to move whenever you can! Even if it means getting up and walking around your office every half an hour. Maybe you can walk or bike to work. Take the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator. Play with your kids outside when you have time. Just move whenever you have the chance and increase your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)!
5. You aren't eating enough of your micronutrients. This is one huge mistake I made. I was carefully tracking my macronutrients (protein, carbs and fat), but I was forgetting about the micronutrients: my fiber intake, calcium, iron, potassium, Vitamin A, etc. Some of these numbers were much lower than I'd expected. It wasn't until I started monitoring all of this on MFP that I was able to increase my intake. A lot of people aren't hitting these numbers, and the foods they consume are nutritionally devoid. More nutritionally dense foods will keep you full for a longer period of time and they will help improve overall bodily function so you can go crush your workouts.



My Fitness Pal has a large database, and it's easy to use.

6. You're not working hard enough. It would be fantastic if we could just take a bunch of magic pills and maybe workout once every week for 20 minutes and miraculously have the body of a Victoria's Secret Angel or Brad Pitt in "Fight Club," but unfortunately I'm going to have to pop your bubble: weight loss doesn't work that way. No pill can substitute hours, weeks, months and years of grinding at the gym. No expensive shake is going to allow you to eat a double bacon cheeseburger with a side of fries and still look like an Adonis. Hard work is the only solution to your weight loss woes. Go to the gym as often as your schedule allows and put in the time. Dedication will help you become stronger, faster and leaner (if that is what you desire).

If you're serious about getting in shape, stop talking about tomorrow or next month. Quit making excuses and finding reasons not to do it. The truth is, none of this is easy. I'm not going to sugar-coat it. Some days I'm absolutely exhausted. There are times when people offer me free donuts or candy. Life is a constant struggle filled with temptation. Sometimes I choose to indulge, but often I just tell myself to quit whining and go to the gym anyway. This type of mental strength is the only way to see progress and achieve a lifestyle of health.

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Why "Cleanses" are a Tremendous Waste of Time

Juice cleanses, or other similar food detoxes seem to be all of the rage these days. From the Whole 30, the 21 Day Sugar Detox, cayenne and lemon water cleanse, the options are seemingly infinite. Each one boasts claims that you will magically rid your intestines and other tissues of toxins or inflammation.

Before you get defensive, keep reading.

I should mention that I think, first and foremost, a healthy diet is the key to preventing or treating an array of different health problems, along with meditation, physical activity, and proper hydration. I believe fulfilling your micronutrient requirements (vitamins and minerals) should be high on everyone's list of priorities.

Now, let's analyze why (what I believe to be most) people start these cleanses in the first place: to lose weight and kickstart healthier habits. Perhaps you just got back from a vacation full of over-indulgence in junk food and alcohol. Maybe you put on a bit of unwelcome weight over the holiday season. Although I completely understand these frustrations, I think cleanses are a load of crap and a waste of money.

I am quite adamantly against them for a few reasons:

1. There is no "quick fix." When it comes to diet and exercise, everyone wants to see changes overnight. The fitness industry feeds on this desire to miraculously improve one's body as quickly as possible. Products claim to help you lose 20 pounds of fat in a month or gain 10 pounds of muscle in 3 weeks, but you must remember that these are just marketing schemes to coerce you into buying a product or subscribing to a new workout routine. The truth is that "health" is not a weekend vacation. A 7 day juice cleanse or a 30 day food detox is a start, but it is only the beginning of a lifelong commitment to wellness. Chugging down cayenne pepper for a week won't transform you into some immortal superhero!
2. Your calorie intake is too damn low! Nearly every juice cleanse I've seen brings you to around 1,000-1,300 calories a day. Unless you're in a vegetative state or you're 85 years-old, that number is way too small. If you're exercising, those numbers are along the lines of what I would call dangerous. There is no way your body can recover and progress if you're starving yourself. Not to mention, juice is low in protein and devoid of most of the fiber that comes with fruit and vegetables, so you won't feel full after consuming these juices. I'm willing to bet that your juice-only diet will leave you feeling lethargic and foggy, rather than leaving you alert and ready to take on the day.
3. It's not sustainable. I advise my clients to eat everything in moderation. I do not recommend they explicitly cut out certain foods, because, well, they're going to crave those foods nonstop! Of course I want them to eat their greens and fulfill their protein requirements, but I don't want them to go crazy in the process! Diets like the Whole 30 have an absurd amount of "no-no" foods. White potatoes, grains, dairy, refined sugar and legumes are all off limits for Whole 30ers. First of all, it can be pretty tiring to have to turn down your mom's meals because it contains XYZ, and second of all, it reinforces a disordered relationship with food! Even if you complete 30 days of "clean eating" with no cheats whatsoever, guess what you're probably going to do on day 31 or day 45? You're probably going to go on a binge-eating spree and scarf down every food you just limited from your diet for the past month and send your digestive system into agony. Why bother cleansing your system if you're only going to inevitably return to your old eating habits? Why limit your cookie intake for four weeks, just so you can snort an entire sleeve of Thin Mints afterwards?

Your kidneys and your liver are organs whose prime function is detoxification. They are more than capable of that job with or without your cleanses. The weight loss industry throws around words like "inflammation" to create fear or buzz. Commercials leave people believing they have chronic inflammation, food allergies and toxins they never even knew about before.

There aren't yet any studies to suggest that these types of cleanses actually serve any benefit to you or your body, but yet tons of "nutrition experts" swear by anecdotal evidence or bogus allegations.

I believe in moderation. If you want to have a piece of cake, have it. Just make sure you're not having the entire cake to yourself, and prioritize nutrient dense foods. Spend your whole day eating food that will fuel your body and provide you with the vitamins you need to sustain organ function. Then, every once-in-a-while, have a snack, if you want one. You'll feel less likely to completely derail your progress and binge if you aren't so strict with your diet.

Drinking the occasional fruit juice is fine, but there's absolutely no need to go on a juice-only diet unless your jaw is fused shut or you have some sort of digestive issues that you'd like to alleviate. Avoid the marketing scams and find some balance in your nutritional habits. It's pretty well-recognized that crash diets don't work, so find one you're prepared to commit to for the long haul, not just a predetermined amount of time!

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How Marketing Confuses the Meaning of "Healthy"

Many popular products like NutriGrain bars, FiberOne brownies, Nature's Valley granola are all presented as "healthy" alternatives to candy bars. I mean, "NutriGrain" contains the root words "nutritious" and "grain," so they must be good for you, right?

I don't recommend drinking these to substitute the vitamins in food...

Unfortunately, advertisers love to trick us into thinking our food choices are healthy. The phrases "all natural," "full of whole grains,"  or "low calorie" are slapped on the packaging and touted in commercials.  There are absolutely no necessary criteria for a company to boast "all natural" on its products. "All natural" does not mean organic, nor does it mean unprocessed. This is one phrase that tricks many consumers. Some people are more likely to buy a product they deem to have nutritional value, so they are drawn to these brands.

If you take one look at the ingredient label, however, you may be surprised by what you read. For example, take a look at the ingredients in a Nutrigrain bar:

"WHOLE GRAIN OATS, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, VITAMIN B1 [THIAMIN MONONITRATE], VITAMIN B2 [RIBOFLAVIN], FOLIC ACID), WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, SOYBEAN AND/OR CANOLA OIL, SOLUBLE CORN FIBER, SUGAR, DEXTROSE, FRUCTOSE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, WHEY, WHEAT BRAN, SALT, CELLULOSE, POTASSIUM BICARBONATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, WHEAT GLUTEN, NIACINAMIDE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, CARRAGEENAN, ZINC OXIDE, REDUCED IRON, GUAR GUM, VITAMIN B6 (PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE), VITAMIN B1 (THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE), VITAMIN B2 (RIBOFLAVIN), FILLING: INVERT SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, STRAWBERRY PUREE CONCENTRATE, GLYCERIN, SUGAR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SODIUM ALGINATE, CITRIC ACID, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, METHYLCELLULOSE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CARAMEL COLOR, MALIC ACID, RED 40."

Wow! That's quite the laundry list of ingredients. I'm willing to bet you didn't even read through all of them. As you can see, these bars contain a ton of artificial flavoring, coloring and thickeners. Yes, there are whole grain oats on the list, but the oats are practically drowning in a sea of other predatory ingredients.

Each bar has about 11 grams of refined sugar. These are certainly not the best choice for someone who is looking to have a quick and healthy snack.

Now, I have four rules of thumb for eating well:

1. Eat foods with as few ingredients as possible
2. Eat foods with ingredients you can easily recognize and pronounce.
3. Eat foods that are minimally processed
4. Eat foods with a short shelf life

It's pretty safe to say that NutriGrain bars do not adhere to any of the four aforementioned rules.

In my opinion, it is best to stick to grocery shopping in the perimeters of the store (where you will find fruits, vegetables, nuts, meat, eggs, and other perishable items). You're better off avoiding the items that come in prepackaged containers.

Does this mean you can't enjoy these items in moderation? I've said it before, and I will say it again: absolutely not! I always allow myself to enjoy snacks every so often.

The purpose of this post is simply to illuminate the ways in which food suppliers will try to trick you into thinking that processed garbage is actually good for you. The majority of the food you eat should be nutrient-dense foods that will supply your body with the micronutrients and macronutrients it needs each day. Eat organic food when you can, and, if you eat meat, grass fed is always the better alternative. Avoiding processed foods will keep you feeling alert and energized throughout the day.

Don't allow advertisers to fool you.

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What is "Healthy" to You?